Buzz building for "Awesome"

You take a certain, obvious risk in naming your band "Awesome" — even when you underline the joke by putting it in quotes. But given the amount of performative genius packed into this ironic powerhouse, the name seems utterly, unquestioningly appropriate.

So what makes Seattle-based "Awesome" genuinely awesome? First and foremost, the musicians, several of whom have theatrical and sketch comedy backgrounds: John Ackerman, Kirk Anderson, Basil Harris, Evan Mosher, David Nixon, John Osebold and Rob Witmer.

These seven members make their appealingly quirky music via trumpet, accordion, guitar, mandolin, banjo, typewriter, bass, drums, cymbals, clarinets, theremin, melodica, glockenspiels, kitchen utensils, piano, violin, saxophone and bullhorn. Also, they sing.

When asked to give a Hollywood-style label for the band's sound, the performers offer They Might Be Giants meets Ween meets the Beatles. (Or, as Nixon suggests, "They Might Be Weentles.")

Spanning the theater, rock and comedy genres, "Awesome" has gained a devoted following, one they hope to expand beyond local when they tour the new show premiering at On the Boards.

The current show — called "noSIGNAL" because that's the message that kept appearing on the video camera during a promotional photo shoot — was written and composed by the members of "Awesome" and as originally conceived concerned technological breakdowns.

"But as we worked on it," says Mosher, "we were all itching for something more organic and warm to contrast with that."

That's where the bees came in. "Way before this show we'd already been talking about the 'hive mind' of 'Awesome,' " Nixon says, referring to the remarkable way each of the seven members is able to independently develop material that fits seamlessly into the group effort.

Reconvening after a session of individual composition, they discovered several of the newly created songs mentioned bees. "That made it really easy to connect things," says Osebold.

The buzz builds even as they speak. "There's the system of the hive," Mosher says, "and the system of a computer, and biological systems." Then Nixon interrupts: "And there's the office worker/worker bee connection." Then Osebold points at two insects bumping against the window and announces, "Aren't those bees right there?"

Once again, the hive mind of "Awesome" is off and humming.

The synergy of the group is palpable — ideas fly across the table as fast as the jokes, and like all smart comedy teams — and composers, for that matter — the men weave recurring themes throughout. As Osebold says of their collaborative process, "It feels like The Seven Heads of Dr. 'Awesome.' "

The "noSIGNAL" show also references the death gene (as Mosher explains it, "a cellular program in all organisms that tells cells to die when their purpose is fulfilled"), and computer kill programs and bees dying a voluntary death to protect the hive.

"The show's kind of about the band," Witmer says, not entirely joking. Osebold adds, "It's a fictional retelling of what we do and the cycle we're perpetually trapped in." Explaining that the band's previous theatrical show, "Delaware," was more of a free-form feeling, Mosher clarifies, "In this show we are seven characters taking a journey."

"There isn't anything like an Act I through Act V," adds Witmer. "It's more like a prog-rock fable." (Ho-hum, that old saw.) "The show isn't without its abstract nature," says Osebold, "but hopefully people will get a sense of having traveled from beginning to end."

Kind of like an OnStar navigation system — if it had immense musical talent, a whip-smart sense of humor and a thing for bees.

Brangien Davis: brangiendavis@yahoo.com